Well, we have intensified our outreaches on Singles of Purpose. We held meetings in Ikeja and Lekki and had some really glorious moments. We talked about sex and had everyone comfortable enough to contribute.

Some people gave their lives to Christ and those who have gone through rape came out for healing. The meetings were awesome and they asked us to come back again. So, we are planning to go back.

You started out with Singles. Why was that?

Actually, Singles of Purpose started in 2000. It was much later after we started ministry. I just found myself having a passion for relationship and marriage. While in school, I realised married people were always coming to me for counseling though I was a single.

While on NYSC, I organised many fora for brothers and sisters. So, I started reading up on the area based on my passion. When we started out, I heard God telling me to help singles for a life without regret. So, we didn’t start out with singles but got into it along the line.

What would be your reaction to gospel ministers who are specialists in one area or the other of the Bible?

I believe very strongly that the fact is a specialist on one area does not mean he cannot teach on other aspects of the bible. I believe that our ministry is a faith-based ministry but you will find us teaching on many other areas. We have a special assignment to singles but we can’t dwell on that enough. For the church to be healthy, you have to teach on the whole bible.

Some years ago, I was invited to minister in a church in Ibadan. The general overseer, who came from Lagos, was there. When I finished, he said he was the most surprised because he thought I could only preach on single issues. He confessed he was tremendously blessed.

The fact that we talk on singles does not mean that is the only thing we do. I don’t think there is anything bad if a minister discovers what he is called to do, but for the church to be healthy, he has to offer balanced diet. It is balanced diet that makes one healthy.

You can’t preach on only one subject and expect the church to be healthy. You must talk about faith, purity, holiness, prayer and everything in the scriptures.

How about pastors who have branded their sermons only around one subject matter? Is that right a thing to do?

You can discover your special assignment but cannot say you want your church to be known for something. You are a servant of God, not the owner of the church. It’s not for the product to determine what it would be but the manufacturer will do that.

Some say pastors should be on full-time while others say they should find alternative means of livelihood to save church costs. Where do you stand on this?

My view is that some people are called on full time ministry. For me, it is about conviction. I don’t feel there is anything bad if you are not doing it on full time based on conviction. The only challenge I have is to think that everybody must do ministry the way you are doing it. God has different assignments for different people with different methods. So, you have got to find what God wants for you.

I know a man of God in Cameroon who believes he can combine ministry with being a Professor of Chemistry in Yaoundé. He believes God called him to be a professor and impact students. So, for me, it depends on what God called you to be and do. What is important is doing only what God wants you to do.

I don’t want to live my life based on what others are doing. We may not have the same assignments or have the same convictions. So, for me, it’s about you and God.

As a minister to singles, can you introduce mature waiting spouses or match-make people?

When we talk of match-making, I tell people I don’t think it is bad to provide a platform for people to meet. What I think is wrong is if you say ‘why don’t you marry so so and so so person?’ But we do provide platforms for people to interact and exchange contacts.

There are mature, highly-placed persons who come to me to ask if there is someone I can recommend for them to marry. My response is that it would be difficult for me to do that because I don’t know people intimate enough.

So, you have never been tempted to hook people?

Well, it is not common with me because I would want them to pray and be convinced. You know if they have storms tomorrow, they would see me as the devil that brought them together. I allow people to make the choices themselves while we only provide platforms for them to mingle.

Lately, there have been agitations that the process of how church funds are spent should be more democratised. How do you react to this?

I believe there is no where anywhere that everybody determines how money is spent. In government, societies and communities, there are always people you entrust to make that decision. In government, we have voted for some people to determine how monies are spent. We can’t have a debate or national conference on that.

In the church too, there are leaders entrusted with that responsibility. A pastor can always call the board of ministers who can debate and consider what they will spend on. I leave our Financial Committee to come up with the budget while I only share my visions with them.

We brainstorm and determine how we want to spend the money. Sometimes, we can’t rule out the fact that there would be emergencies for which the church must respond. When our brethren had accident in 2009, we had to come in. They came for one of our programmes and had an accident on their way back to Abuja in Ile-Ife. We stepped in and paid for their hospital bills.

That was an emergency that we had to take on. Sometimes, God also leads us to make some expenses. I was lying down here one day when God told me about the name of one of our mechanics. I later heard he had an accident. So, we had to raise funds for him.

So, there is no way everybody can determine how church fund is spent but leaders have to take up the responsibility.

How many branches do you have now?

We have two in Lagos, one in Abuja and another one in Port-Harcourt. The church just started in Australia and we are planning to take off in Ilorin too.

Is it that you don’t believe in expansion or chose to take your time to open new branches?

Well, I like to be sure God is involved in whatever I do. I don’t want to do something that He will not fund that will now put me under unnecessary pressure.

I don’t believe in competing with anybody at all. I am not into ‘we started ministry together and he is way ahead of me’. That does not bother me at all. What bothers me is doing what God wants me to do exactly. I discover that many African ministers are into fierce competition but I have decided to just do what God wants me to do. How fast I move does not bother me. I don’t mind supporting others at all.

I recently saw Billy Graham ministries helping some villagers in Malawi and Rwanda. I told my wife that God will have us do something about it. I even started weeping. I was wondering why African churches can’t support a need in their own continent. Why does it have to take Billy Graham to raise support for villagers in Africa? The reason is that we are all busy opening branches and expanding our territories instead of doing what God wants us to do.

So, ministerial success is not about expansion?

It is not at all. It has nothing to do with the size of your congregation or the branches under you. It is also not about the car you drive or the jet you fly. You have to find a bible-based definition of success. It is not about things but your assignment in life.

Making money is not wrong if God helps you to. You can make money and still be a failure. It is about the impact you are making and the lives you are touching.

If making money is your motivation, then you will make all that you can and can all that you make and sit on it, like someone said. There are churches with billions stashed away while needs are there everywhere.